Airplane Systems Flashcards
What are the five major parts included in most airplanes?
Fuselage Wings Enpannage Landing Gear Power Plant
What is an open truss structure?
Planes that had no fuselage but had the cockpit surrounded by struts and wire bracing.
What is usually included inside of a fuselage?
Seats, storage for cargo, and controlls for flying the plane.
What is the name of the construction where part of the flight load is carried by struts and other structural supports and the other part of the flight load is carried by an outside skin of sheet metal or plywood or carbon composites?
Stressed Skin
What does monocoque mean?
The skin of the fuselage carries all of the flight load and there is little or no internal framework.
What is the chief limiatation of a monocoque?
It cannot tollerate any dents or deformations of the surface without a potential collapse.
What is the fuselage style used in many modern airplanes to give the best strength and performance?
Semi-monocoque which is a monocoque fuselage with a substructure attached to it to help it maintain its shape.
What is the name for an airplane with one set of wings?
Monoplane
What is the name for an airplane with two sets of wings?
Biplane
What are the three ways wings can be attached to a fuselage?
High Wing
Mid Wing
Low Wing
What are the two types of control surfaces on a wing?
Ailerons
Flaps
Where are Ailerons located?
On the back edge of the wings closest to the tip.
Where are the flaps located?
On the back edge of the wings closest to the fuselage.
What do you use ailerons for?
To turn the plane in flight.
What do you use flaps for?
To create lift during takeoff and landing.
What direction do ailerons move?
In opposite directions from eachother.
If you turn the wheel left, how do the ailerons move?
The left aileron moves up and the right aileron moves down.
What are the four parts of the empennage?
Vertical Stabalizer (fin)
Rudder
Horizontal Stabalizer
Elevator
Where is the rudder?
It’s on the back of the vertical stabalizer.
What do you do with a rudder?
You controll it with the pedals and it in combination with the ailerons lets you turn the plane.
If you press the left pedal, what impact does this have on the rudder?
The rudder will extend to the left which will cause the nose of the plane to be shoved to the left by the air flow.
Where is the elevator?
It’s on the back of the horizontal stabalizer.
If you pull back on the wheel what happens to the elevator?
The elevator goes up shoving the back of the plane down and the nose of the plane up.
What is a stabilator?
A once piece horizontal stabalizer without an elevator. It pivots up and down on a central hinge point much like the elevator.
What is an anti-servo tab?
It provides resistance in the controls for a stabilitor basically functioning as a trim tab for the stabiltor.
What does a trim tab do?
It lessens the resistance that you feel on the controls.
Where is a trim tab located?
On the elevator
What is the name for landing gear where the third wheel is in the rear?
Conventional Landing Gear
What do you call an airplane with conventional landing gear?
Tailwheel airplane
What is the name for landing gear where the third wheel is in the front?
Tricycle Gear
What do you call an airplane with trycycle landing gear?
Nosewheel
What are the two kinds of nosewheels?
Steerable
Castering
What is the difference between Steerable and Castering nosewheels?
Steerable nosewheels are linked to the rudders by cables and rods and castering are not. Castering nosewheels can still be controlled by rudders but breaks must be used to, particularly in sharp turns.
When not classifying landing gear by the placement of the wheel, what are the two kinds of landing gear?
Fixed Gear
Retractable Gear
What are the benefits of fixed gear landing gear?
Simplicity and low cost
What is the benefit of retractable landing gear?
More streamlined aerodynamics, but the high cost typically limits it to high performance aircraft.
What kind of landing gear is best for rough unpaved landing strips?
Tail wheel planes with conventional landing gear.
What is a plane that can also serve as a boat called?
An Amphibian